


Scenes in the Life of Cardcaptor Tomoyo

by chaoticrandomness



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, It's a bit darker than CCS...., Role Reversal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-10 16:12:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2031486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticrandomness/pseuds/chaoticrandomness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Tomoyo found the Book of Clow instead of Sakura? (Request from tumblr.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How it all Began

_Open me…. please…._

_OPEN ME! FIND ME AND OPEN ME!_

I had to be hallucinating. Apart from my mother’s bodyguards, my house was usually empty right now, and they rarely interacted with me. Yet the voices felt real, like I’d heard it in a dream…. and it seemed to be dragging me into my mother’s study.

 

For some strange reason, she’d left the door open. I slipped through it, hoping that none of the bodyguards would notice.

 

There was a large, ornate book sitting on the bottom shelf that immediately caught my eye. Impulsively, I rushed over and opened its latch.

 

“Nice to meet you, whoever you are.” the stuffed animal inside the book said. “I’m Kero, and you are?”

 

_This couldn’t possibly be real!_

 

 


	2. An Introduction to Cardcaptor Tomoyo

Kero’s explanation for what was going on seemed like some sort of fantasy story. Apparently, a magician named Clow Reed had created a deck of magical cards thousands of years ago, which were sealed in this book to prevent them from wreaking havoc.

 

“And now that I’ve opened it, does that mean that they’ll be free to create chaos?”

 

“Unfortunately. Don’t worry, though. If you were able to open this book, you must posses great magical power…. hey, I think you’d make a great cardcaptor!”

 

“I’m sorry, but what exactly is a cardcaptor?”

 

“Someone who wields magic to get the cards back into the book. Kind of like those magical girls on TV…. don’t judge me for liking them, okay? I spent a lot of time in Osaka with a family who had three daughters!”

 

Magical girls…. I’d always loved and admired their commitment to justice, beautiful outfits, and how they were seen as heroines by everyone despite just being normal girls…. and now I had a chance to become one!

 

I wanted to jump up and down excitedly in front of Kero, but I didn’t want him to get a bad impression of me, so I just said calmly, “Does that mean that I’ll get a fancy outfit and all sorts of cool wands and become a heroine of justice?”

 

“Outfit: no, unless you make one. Wand: yes, here you go.” he said as he tossed me a pink staff with a winged top. “It’s for sealing cards and getting them back into the book. And heroine of justice: as long as you don’t lose the Final Judgement, you should be good.”

 

“What happens if I lose?”

 

“Something horrible will happen. And it’s not an earthquake or tsunami or anything like that; it’s more…. personal.”

 

“Could you be more specific?” I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant by more personal. Maybe everyone’s greatest fear would come true at the same time?

 

“I’ll tell you later. I don’t want to worry you.”

 

 


	3. Saving Sakura

It was the first day of summer when all this happened, and I couldn’t wait to tell Sakura about how I was now a magical girl.

 

Sakura Kinomoto was my best friend. Ever since we’d been in the same third grade class and she’d given me her eraser, we’d become nearly inseparable, and I’d also fallen in love with her. Oddly enough, my mother had also fallen in love with her mother when they were children. I guess that was why she liked her so much.

 

“Sakura, wait for me!” I said as I saw her rollerblading down the road. I ran towards her, my excitement growing with every step.

 

_I’m now a magical girl! Could you please film me? I have so many things to show you!_

 

“Ah…. Tomoyo….. could you please look into that pond over there? Naoko said that there was a g-ghost in there!”

 

I looked into the pond and saw…. myself in a pink dress fighting monsters.

 

_Well, it’s not a ghost…. but what’s that doing in the pond?_

“See, Sakura, there aren’t any ghosts in the pond. It’s just another one of Naoko’s stories.”

 

“Thanks, Tomoyo” she said while turning to face the pond. “I’m not going to be…. Mom? What are you doing here?”

 

And then she jumped into the pond.

 

_SAKURA! She can’t swim very well, and I don’t know what’s going to happen to her!_

 

* * *

 

“KERO!” I screamed as I ran into my room. “Sakura-my friend-is in trouble! She thought she saw her mother in a pond and jumped in and she can’t swim very well and I don’t want her to die!”

 

“Calm down, please. So your friend thought she saw her mother in a pond…. hey, that sounds like a card. Did you see anything?”

 

“I saw myself wearing a pink dress and fighting monsters-but what does that have to do with anything! She could be dead right now! We have to hurry!”

 

“Hm…. I think I know what this one is. Did you happen to be thinking about yourself while you looked into the pond?”

 

“Um…. I was going to tell Sakura that I was a magical girl?”

 

“Okay, got it. It’s the Illusion card. And now, here’s your first mission has a heroine of justice! Use these cards.” he said while tossing four to me. “You left them in the book.”

 

_Watery, Windy, Jump, and Fly…. but how am I supposed to use those to save Sakura?_

* * *

 

“WATERY!” I screamed, desperately hoping that Sakura wasn’t dead. I hoped that my bubble would last long enough to save her and capture the card.

 

_It’s showing me…. her dead body!? But it’s just an illusion! I can’t make myself lose hope on my first mission as a heroine of justice!_

I began descending into the water and pedaling my bubble closer towards the card’s illusion.

 

Thankfully, when I got there, Sakura wasn’t dead, but she seemed to be losing consciousness and kept whispering the word “Mother?” to herself.

 

_I need to get her out of here! But I can’t lift her out after I’m finished with the card-she’s dying! If only I could levitate her…._

“FLY!” I desperately yelled while aming my wand at her body, hoping that my idea would work…. She began to float upwards.

 

_Yes! Now onto the card…._

 

“Key that conceals the power of darkness, show me your true form! Under my power, I command you to…. RELEASE!”

 

_What did I just say? Then again, all magical girls experience this the first time they transform or attack, so I’m an official one now?_

Sakura’s body turned into a card with an odd design on the front that looked like a bunch of snowflakes, which floated into my hand.

 

 


	4. Summer Adventures with Clow Cards and Videographer Sakura

Sakura had woken up in my bed after I’d saved her from drowning. She didn’t seem to remember exactly what had happened to her, only that she’d somehow talked with her dead mother.

 

_“You saved my life?! Tomoyo, you’re amazing! Of course I’ll film you! I love you, you know?”_

_“I love you too. Just in a different way…. I guess.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Nevermind. I’ll tell you when you’re older.”_

 

* * *

 

Our first mission after Sakura became my filmmaker was at our school’s summer athletics festival.

 

My mother insisted on competing every year against Sakura’s father, whom she hated for marrying the woman she loved. This year would be the year she’d finally defeat him, she said every year, only for him to never show up or defeat her.

 

After Kero was lured out of the kitchen with promises of delicious food and placed on my head, we left for the festival.

 

However, the parent’s race was almost canceled due to a bizarre hurricane of flowers flooding the track. Kero told me that it had to be a card, and I agreed instantly. What else could cause all of those flowers to fall at once? Sakura was dragged away from her brother’s and Yukito’s picnic, and we headed to the roof of the school in search of a card.

 

However, this one didn’t seem to be interested in combat like the Illusion. When it saw me, it began to dance with me and forget about its mission of scattering flower petals everywhere.

 

“Should I keep this video?” Sakura asked while Kero explained that the Flowery card was generally nice and easygoing.

 

“Key that conceals the power of darkness, show me your true form! Under my power, I command you to…. RELEASE! And Sakura, you should keep this video.”

 

* * *

 

Our second mission generated a much more interesting video than the first.

 

Trees had been sprouting up everywhere in town, and their branches formed a criss-crossed quilt above the roofs and power lines. However, the canopy was so thick that it began to block out the sky and the sun.

 

The three of us came to the conclusion that this had to have been the work of a card, but had no idea where its location was. After Sakura and I both mentioned that the first tree sprouted up near her house, we decided to look there for it.

 

It was dark despite it being daytime, so we grabbed flashlights from my basement and began finding our way through a maze of trees.

 

Eventually, we found Sakura’s house, the only place where it wasn’t completely dark. The card was nestling in between some shingles on her roof.

 

While the Wood card was just as noncombative as the Flowery card, I did have to climb a house and several trees before reaching it. Once I sealed it, the trees disappeared instantly, leaving me stranded on Sakura’s roof until she got a ladder.

 

Kero proceeded to scold me about how I could’ve flown down.


	5. Syaoran Li

The rest of the summer passed calmly, and before we knew it, school started.

 

Sakura and I were in the same class this year, and our teacher appeared to be new. I hadn’t heard of anyone named Mizuki Kaho, but Sakura said that her brother knew her. Unfortunately, his only response was for us to “stop meddling in his romantic affairs”.  She seemed nice, though, and was really pretty-no wonder Sakura’s brother loved her.

 

We also got a new student in our class. His name was Syaoran Li, and he seemed to irrationally hate me. Sakura was oblivious to this, and invited him to sit with us during lunch, but he declined and said it had to do with me “being his rival in cardcaptoring.”

 

_Hmmm…. so I’m the type of magical girl who has a rival? Well, he’ll come to his senses eventually…. and maybe Mizuki is some sort of mentor?_

* * *

 

“Tomoyo, there’s something wrong with Rika! She’s swordfighting me!”

 

I grabbed my staff and began sprinting over to Sakura’s house. After she’d almost died, I’d given her a phone my mother’s company made so she could contact me in case something began happening to her. I didn’t want anything else to happen to my best friend because of me.

 

Sakura was pinned against the hallway wall and screaming at Rika.

 

“Please come to your senses, Rika! I’m your friend! Why are you trying to hurt me! I don’t know what’s going on, but please! STOP!!!!”

 

“She’s not going to! The Sword card takes over a person’s heart!” Kero tried to inform her, but he couldn’t be heard over Sakura’s screams.

 

_I need to distract her…._

“FLOWERY!” I screamed, causing a giant storm of petals to blind Rika.

 

“Sakura, run! She’s distracted now! And key that conceals the power of darkness-”

 

“WAIT! If you do anything, it’ll kill her! You just need to free her!” Kero screamed at me. “Use the-”

 

“I know what to do! ILLUSION!”

 

* * *

 

“Don’t you know that it’s dangerous to involve her in this?”

 

After I’d captured the Sword card, I began looking for Sakura, as she wasn’t in her house, only to be greeted by Syaoran Li.

 

“I know full well exactly what she’s getting into-in fact, I’ve saved her life!”

 

“Well, so have I. After you distracted Rika with those flowers, I was able to get Sakura out of harm’s way. And before you ask how I found you, my compass is capable of finding cards.” he says while thrusting a device shaped like an eight-sided star into my hands.

 

“Why couldn’t you have showed up earlier?! Did you deliberately corner her, knowing full well-”

 

“If I had shown up earlier, I would’ve either killed Rika or gotten severely injured by either the sword or you.”

 

“I wouldn’t have hurt you!”

 

“That’s beside the point. Anyways, as I was saying, let’s end this before it gets out of hand. I challenge you to a swordfight over the remaining cards.”

 

_What’s going on? What does he mean by “getting out of hand?” Does he even have any cards? Is this the scene where he comes to his senses? Isn’t it a bit early?_

“So, if you win, you’ll get all of my cards and if I win, I’ll get all of your cards. And I do have some; I’m not lying.”

 

“Why are we doing this?!”

 

“I don’t want to hurt anyone else. And now, we begin.”

 

_Exactly which sort of rival is he? What happened to him?_

 

* * *

 

Despite using the card, I did not have any sort of advantage over him. Apparently, his own sword was imbued with some sort of magical power.

 

I was sure that this would be the scene where he would be redeemed, but now I wasn’t so sure.

 

_Even though this sword is thinner, there’s no way for me to knock it out of his hand! It’s as if there’s a sort of invisible force-field around it…. but if I were to catch him off guard…. and there’s no rule against using cards…._

“ILLUSION!”

 

_please work…. please work….. I need to prevent the end of the world…. somehow…._

“No, it’s just an illusion…. please, I’m sorry.”

 

In his moment of distraction, the shield falters and I’m able to remove the sword from his hand.

 

 


	6. Sonomi's, Sakura's, and Syaoran's adventures with Mirror-Tomoyo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all of the canon divergence and a bit of canon-editing.....

“Where am I?”

 

_The last thing I remember is receiving his cards…. but how did I end up in a hospital?_

“You fainted.” a nurse says, handing Kero to me. “Someone brought you in a few hours ago with this stuffed animal.”

 

* * *

 

“Tomoyo?”

 

There’s no way my daughter could be in my office right now, for she wouldn’t skip school, yet here she is…. writing something in black sharpie on all of my files.

 

“What are you doing?! You’ve always been such a good girl, so why are you acting like this!? Shouldn’t you understand how important those are to the company!”

 

She’s gone, and I have to throw out fifty pages of files. I grab the pile and am walking towards the trash can when I notice exactly what she’s written.

 

_notice me…. love me…. i’m not nadeshiko…. notice me…. love me…. i’m not nadeshiko…._

It’s written on every single one of those fifty pages, over and over like some sort of chart.

 

_notice me…. love me…. i’m not nadeshiko…. notice me…. love me…. i’m not nadeshiko…._

Could my daughter have randomly skipped school today and wrecked all of my files just as a ploy for me to notice her?

 

* * *

 

As expected, she won our swordfight despite me imbuing my sword with the Shield card. I had expected her to notice that I’d never banned the use of cards.

 

But why did she have to show an image of her?

 

I claim to have moved on from accidentally killing my partner in my search for the cards, yet when faced with a card that displays your first thought, she shows up. It’s why I’m against her involving Sakura in any of this.

 

What I didn’t expect was for her to faint while transferring her power to the cards. I guessed our fight took more energy out of her than I’d expected.

 

Sakura is as optimistic as usual. She’s going on about Yukito and how she’ll finally work up the courage to confess her love to him and how glad she is that Rika is okay. I guess that’s why she ended up cracking my mask in half and throwing in out the window.

 

Even after almost dying (twice?) her optimism is still intact.

 

* * *

 

“Do you think Yukito would like this?” she says while handing me a set of ornate bowls. “He really enjoys food.”

 

“I don’t think he’ll like it. In fact, I think he’s in love with someone else-your brother.” someone says out of nowhere.

 

“Tomoyo? You’re better now! Why weren’t you in school today?” Sakura exclaims, leaving me to wonder how she recovered so quickly from her fainting spell.

 

_Wait…. from all I know of her (which isn’t that much) she’s extremely supportive of everything Sakura does…. so why is she trying to prevent Sakura’s romantic relationship with Yukito?_

“What are you talking about? And anyways, shouldn’t you be buying those for someone who loves you? Like me?”

 

“But I love you too! It’s just that I love him….”

 

“He loves your brother.”

 

_There’s no way this could be Tomoyo. It’s got to be some sort of mirror…. it’s the card!_

“Key that conceals the power of darkness, show me your true form! Under my power, I command you to…. RELEASE!” I’m also capable of sealing cards, due to my descendance from Clow Reed.

 

Mirror-Tomoyo jumps away at the last minute.

 

* * *

 

“What are you doing to Tomoyo?!” Sakura exclaims as I’m trying to seal her.  

 

“It’s not her!” I exclaim while standing on top of a display case. “Would she really say that to you?!”

 

Luckily for us, the store’s cleared out, so I don’t have to explain to anyone what’s happening.

 

Mirror-Tomoyo and I are chasing each other across the shelves, attacking and dodging attacks and falling cabinets. I narrowly miss getting hit by a falling lamp, and Sakura is filming the whole thing.

 

I finally seal her after a cabinet of plates fall on top of her.

 

* * *

 

“Hmmm…. so you only have four more cards to go until Final Judgement. Nice work in the swordfight!” Kero says as I look over the cards I’ve recently obtained from Syaoran. My mother picked us up from the hospital, and was apologizing for not really paying attention to me? I’m not sure where she got that from.

 

_So, in magical girl terms, I’m heading towards my final battle._

“Nice to see that he’s given you one of my cards.” Kero says while gesturing towards the Firey card. “Once we get the other one, I’ll be able to show you my true form. It’s really cool! I’m not going to be mistaken for a stuffed animal again!”

 

 


	7. Mizuki Kaho and Yukito Tsukishiro

“It’s nice to see that you’ve come to visit me outside of school.” Mizuki says as Sakura and I head to her shrine. “Are you excited for our school trip to the beach tomorrow?”

 

“Yes, but we’re here for charms.” Sakura says, gesturing towards a pile in front of her. “I’d like one for…. love, and Tomoyo will have one for good fortunes.”

 

“I’m sorry, but we’re out of love charms. There’s probably some inside; do you want to check?”

 

Sakura and I head into the shrine…. which turned into a maze the minute we stepped through the door.

_This is definitely the work of a card, but how are we supposed to find it?_

 

* * *

 

Why is it taking them such a long time to find the love fortunes? I’m sure I left them by the front door….

 

As I walk into the shrine, everything falls into place. Somehow, the entire thing has become a maze.

 

Even though Tomoyo is the Cardcaptor, I doubt that she-or anyone, for that matter-would be able to find their way out of this maze without help.

 

“Sakura? Tomoyo? Can you hear me?” No one answers.

 

I remove the bell from my pocket and begin pressing in against the walls, and they crumble away. A friend of mine in England gave it to me.

 

The bell draws me to the pair of them like a magnet.

 

“Mizuki!” Sakura exclaims “Could you please get us out of here?”

 

“Don’t you have something to do here, Tomoyo?”

 

“Oh…. right. Don’t look, please.”

 

* * *

 

“....and they never came back. The end.”

 

Naoko is telling yet another one of her ghost stories, although Sakura is the only person who is scared about our courage test in the cave.

 

I have three cards left until the Final Judgement, and from what Kero says, it seems like I’ll have to fight Mizuki. I just thought that it was odd that she was able to find her way through the maze, but, according to Kero, she has extremely powerful magic related to the moon-which means she’s the reincarnation of Clow’s moon related guardian, Yue.

 

_I don’t want to fight her. Yet, in some magical girl shows, the final villain is revealed as the heroine’s best friend or mentor-maybe this is the type of show I’m in?_

* * *

 

“Ahhh!”

 

“Sakura, that was a shadow. There are no ghosts in here.”

 

No one responds.

 

“Sakura?”

 

She’s gone, vanished into thin air like the children in Naoko’s story.

 

_This has got to be a card! They always cause these weird disappearances and events…. but where is it?_

Someone bumps into me in the total darkness and I jump a bit.

 

“Do you know where everyone went?” Syaoran asks me.

 

“I was going to ask you the same thing, as Sakura just vanished into thin air a few seconds ago.”

 

“She’s fine…. right? They’re not dead or anything….”

 

“I don’t think there’s a type of card that can kill people…. and why are you so worried about that?”

 

He doesn’t answer, and we continue stepping through the silent cave, hoping to find the card with the aid of his compass.

 

* * *

 

“FLY!” I yell into the chasm, hoping to levitate the card out of there. The card does move, but snags on the roof of the cave.

 

_I’ve got to save Sakura!_

“FLY!” I yell again, and begin to levitate myself towards the card, except my nightgown snags on a stalactite and I begin falling, only to be caught by Syaoran.

 

“Why did you save me?”

 

“I don’t want anyone else to die because of me!”

 

What is it with him and death?

 

“JUMP!” I yell, propelling the pair of us into the air towards the card. I aim my wand like a gun and yell “Key that conceals the power of darkness, show me your true form! Under my power, I command you to…. RELEASE!”

 

And an earthquake starts.

 

* * *

 

“Key that conceals the power of darkness, show me your true form! Under my power, I command you to…. RELEASE!”

 

I’m screaming this and aiming at nowhere in particular, hoping to stop the earthquake. Syaoran and I got out of the cave before it collapsed, but Sakura and the others are still in there…. I don’t want them to die, please! Keep them safe!

 

_What stops an earthquake?! In school, they say that you need to get under a table, but I don’t see anything that could help that…. everything’s moving except that tree…._

_That’s it!_

“WOOD!” I desperately yell, hoping that it’ll temporarily stop the earthquake. The trees’ roots begin spreading across the beach, stabilizing everything and allowing me to pinpoint the location of the card.

 

Trapped in a maze of trees, there’s no way for it to escape.

 

“Key that conceals the power of darkness, show me your true form! Under my power, I command you to…. RELEASE!”

 

* * *

 

“Tomoyo! Syaoran! Are you okay?”

 

Miraculously, Sakura and all of her friends got out of the cave alive-but how?

 

When I ask her, she responds with “Yukito found us in the house after the courage test and got us all out during that earthquake.”

 

_So he wasn’t erased? But the only people who were fine possessed magical powers…. and how did he even get there so quickly?_

“Congratulations, Cardcaptor Tomoyo Daidouji. In order to unlock the final card, you must face the final judgement…. against me.”

 

_That doesn’t sound like Mizuki’s voice; it’s much lower and sounds like a man…. so I don’t have to fight her, (yay!), but I’ll have to defeat…._

"Yukito?"

 

 


	8. Final Judgement

“Who’s that? I’m Yue, the other guardian of the Clow Cards. And now, let’s see if you can become their true mistress, Miss Daidouji.”

 

He fires a flock of winged projectiles at me and I attempt to use the Shield to reflect them, but they’re strong enough to go through and nearly hit me. More flocks of projectiles fly at me, and I keep trying to dodge them with Fly and Jump.

 

“Heh…. so you’re strictly defensive? If you don’t try to injure me, the disaster Keroberos warned you about will happen!”

 

“I’m not going to hurt anyone Sakura loves! And why are we even fighting? What is the disaster?”

 

“Want me to show you?”

 

* * *

 

_Sakura….  who is Sakura?_

_Strangely enough, my mother doesn’t have a picture of Nadeshiko in her living room._

_“Mother, where’s your picture of Nadeshiko?”_

_“Who’s Nadeshiko?”_

_What’s happening?_

_“Tomoyo, don’t you want to come over today?”_

_“I’m sorry, but I’m not sure why you’re asking me.”_

_Who is this girl? I have no idea who she is, yet she acts like I’m her best friend._

“That’s the disaster. You’ll forget about the person you love most.”

 

_So my mother lost Nadeshiko…. and I lost Sakura!_

“This can’t happen! There’s no way I’ll ever let this happen! Even if I’ll have to injure someone Sakura loves, I’ll make sure a loveless world will never happen!”

 

Light expands out from my body as Mizuki throws her bell at me.

 

“Congratulations, Tomoyo Daidouji. You’ve unlocked me. I was always sealed inside you, waiting for you to show significant strength of heart.”

 

Yue launches another fleet of projectiles at me, but this time, a wall of cards surround me, blocking his attack.

 

“Tomoyo!” Mizuki screams. “Use the bell!”

 

I ring it, and it floats to the top of my staff and merges with my staff, becoming the star on top.

 

“Key created by Clow! Accept my new power! RELEASE!”

 

_Does that mean I’ve gained a new powerup?_

“So you’ve managed to defeat me without injuring me…. well, you are now the true master of the cards, Tomoyo Daidouji. Congratulations.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you enjoyed my attempt at this.... even though it got a bit darker and twisted canon a bit. Sorry....


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